Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The London bookstore just named the most popular in the entire world
I am more than a little suspicious of the methodology here (letting LLMs trolls TripAdisor reviews), but both Time Out and I get it: Daunt Books Marylebone just might the most romantic version of a bookstore. Stuffed to the gills, winding, bustling, in a charmingly quirky old building on platonically strollable (read: REALLY EXPENSIVE) street, this bookstore has you ready to have the kind of weekend afternoon browse so many of us covet. I was there a couple of summers ago and while I like a little more edge to my bookstores, I leaned over the balcony in the backroom and thought, ‘Ah. There it is.’
A Lifetime Reading Plan
Ted Gioia is, as we once said on the internet, goals. He has built a following/community/professional life that lets him do what he wants and how he wants to do it. It should be no surprise that his curiosity and drive are nothing new, but the product of decades of effort and cultivation. This essay on his Lifetime Reading Plan is as inspiring as it is daunting.
Looking Inside the Slush Pile
I don’t want to spoil ANY of the data points in Laura McGrath’s…let’s call it sobering analysis of the very, very long odds of being discovered off the slush pile. I was expecting the chances of being dodgy, but by eyebrows were not ready for the sudden elevation change that happened several times here. McGrath’s newsletter, TextCrunch is right in the zone for readers of this newsletter, and I suggest subscribing forthwith.
The GILEAD Adaptation is Real, Meta Streisands Itself, Powells Event Debrief and More of the Week’s Book News
On this episode of the Book Riot Podcast, Rebecca Schinksy and I debrief a little about their live recording at Powell’s last week before talking about Meta Streisanding itself, the exciting/scary news of Scorsese’s for actual life Gilead adaptation, and more of the week’s top book news.